Succulents and More™

I was on the Central Coast last weekend (see map at the bottom of this post), and my first stop was to see Steve Super. I’d visited him in February 2024 when his retail area was in downtown Los Osos; he’s since moved to a greenhouse complex outside of town. More on that later. First a bit about Steve and his business. Steve cultivates and breeds a wide variety of rare and unusual plants that are well adapted to California’s Mediterranean climate. This includes aloes, agaves, and other succulents as well as bromeliads and even some perennials. He’s a one-man operation, and he focuses on plant quality and botanical rarity over mass production. In recent years, Steve has gained recognition for his aloe and dyckia hybrids, which have become sought after for their distinct patterns and colors. He’s also been developing his own mangaves, which are more compact than the ones already on the market and hence better suited for container culture. Steve doesn’t have a conventional retail storefr...

I’ve been dragging my feet on this, but the time has finally come to address the elephant in the room. The winter of 2025–2026 has been like no other I can remember. We got down to freezing maybe a couple of times, for a few hours near sunrise, but that was it. Some mild frost, but no serious freeze. And we haven’t had excessive amounts of rain either. As a result, we shouldn’t have had much, if any, damage in the garden. And yet look at this: Agave potatorum ‘Cherry Swizzle’ rotting in the center As you can see below, there are plenty more examples of rotting agaves. I had barely brought home this variegated Agave attenuata when it started to fall apart: Variegated Agave attenuata Mangave ‘Bloodspot’ × Agave parrasana : Mangave ‘Bloodspot’ × Agave parrasana This Agave impressa was one of my favorites. This really hurts: Agave impressa And it is a complete loss. There is no coming back from this: Agave impressa This variegated Agave victoriae-reginae is a goner: Variegated Agave vic...